Blue Happy Living

As a teacher you never intend to get attached to any kids. For most  it’s a passion to teach, for some it’s a great job with summers off and for me I was never gonna teach EVER but God dumped it in my lap with no other options so here I am a teacher. I wouldn’t have taken any other path or fought this path so hard if I would have known the love and friendship I would have gained. When I first started teaching at Wylie Prep my daughter had just left for college.  I was heart-broken to say the least and I was so lonely without her.  My son was still at home and going into his 7th grade year at WPA.  I had no idea the life saver I had been handed when offered a job as the art teacher starting his 8th grade year.  When I took the job I was gonna work for only 2 years.  When those 2 years came and went I said I’d leave when he graduated.  Four years later he graduated, that was 2011 and I’m still teaching. I stay because I fell in love.  I love giving them a place to go that is off the track of the hard-core classes they take.  This school is strong and the demanding expectations of their classes can be heavy.  These kids helped me get past my empty nest and heart-break of my own kids moving out on their own.  I have fallen  in  love with each and every student that has walked into my class.  I have had some of them all the way through their school career.  I can tell when they are having a bad day, I can tell when they are worried about a class coming up and I can tell when they have had their feelings hurt by a class mate.  I try not crossing any lines and get into their lives but sometimes they just need a hug, a bit of chocolate and someone to make them smile.

This past year has challenged me as a teacher.  The limits of my emotions, love and heart have been stretched. I watched as students and their families go through divorce, the death of a family member, failing out of school, moving for a parents career and the list goes on.  Each time it’s hard to watch but nothing in comparison to the death of Ally Hooten.  As a teacher and person I’m forever changed by this events of January the 7th.  There are no words that can be put into a  blog, book, letter, card or what ever you can name that will express what teaching has meant to me.  On my high school graduation Friday May 13, 1983 I proclaimed “I will never ever be a teacher” seems quiet funny now.  If I were ask to make a statement about my future today I would say “I will never ever give up teaching”. Looking back the books of my chapter are loaded with many stories.  Good and Bad those stories are what have made me who I am today with a great appreciation for teaching.  I’m at God’s call as a teacher.  I stand where I am because he has called me to be just where I am.  I will stand in that moment until He other wise walks me in a new direction.  I just know I’m blessed.

A moment shared with Ally’s Momma.  I’m grateful for this moment and the love she shared with me. God bless this family.